Raw Aluminium Defines Gambit Office And Warehouse

Gambit, a Polish pipe distribution company, commissioned KWK Promes to design a combined office and warehouse in Gliwice. The project had a limited construction budget and was intended to reflect the company’s activities. The architects therefore developed a building form that resembles stacked pipes.

The building contains three main functions. A two-storey volume with sloping walls accommodates the offices, a lower section houses the order-preparation workshop, and a taller cuboid contains the unheated warehouse. The composition also responds to the surrounding residential buildings, many of which have pitched roofs and long, rectangular outbuildings.

The arrangement of the pipe-shaped elements determined the angle of the sloping roof. Part of the upper office floor was reduced to meet local height restrictions and limit the building’s volume. From the street, the building forms a continuous frontage, while its divided volumes relate to the less dense residential area behind it.

Untreated Aluminium Cladding

The architects initially considered using Gambit’s pipes as façade elements. However, the products are intended for underground applications. They were found to be unsuitable because of their response to ultraviolet exposure and their inability to meet the project’s fire safety requirements.

Untreated aluminium sheets were selected instead. The cladding provides a consistent exterior across the office, workshop and warehouse sections. Exposure to outdoor conditions will gradually give the metal a matt patina, changing its appearance over time.

The architects chose aluminium because it was relatively inexpensive, durable and required limited maintenance. Reducing maintenance can help limit material use and other impacts during a building’s operational phase. Aluminium can also be recycled, although no information was provided about the recycled content, production method or eventual recovery of the façade sheets.

Pipe elements remain part of the exterior design. Those along the edges were capped to prevent wind noise. Bird nets were considered but not installed, meaning that birds and other small animals may be able to use the open elements for shelter.

Daylight And Outdoor Space

Windows and skylights provide daylight throughout the building. Ground-floor offices overlook a small garden created within the parking area. Storage and auxiliary rooms on the upper floor receive daylight through skylights, allowing the external walls to remain available for storage.

As much of the site is used for cars and lorries, a terrace was added to the roof of the lowest volume to provide outdoor space for employees. The project combines approximately 943 square metres of usable office, workshop and storage space within a single architectural composition.

Gambit Office was designed in 2013 and completed in 2024.

Source: KWK Promes (via v2com)
Photos: Juliusz Sokołowski